Continuous Time Random Walks

Diffusion is the net movement of molecules or atoms from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration as a result of random motion of the molecules or atoms (Wikipedia).

Due to a discovery by Einstein (1905), a universal model for the random motion of microscopic particles is Brownian motion, whose mean-squared displacement increases linearly with time.

In many system with particles more complex than tiny molecules which interact with their environment (e.g. proteins, self-propelled bacteria or cells, stock market prices, …) the growth of the mean-squared displacement is no longer linear:

anomalous-MSD (Image credit Wikipedia).

The Continuous Time Random Walk (CTRW) is a model for anomalous diffusion: it can model subdiffusion with long (heavy-tailed) waiting times between steps, and superdiffusion with long (heavy-tailed) steps, and even a mixture of both.

Scientists are interested in extending the CTRW model to allow for interactions between walkers, and need tools for the computation of concentrations of random walkers. Since the beginning of the century, there has been a fruitful exchange between statistical physics, experimental physics, pure mathematics and computational mathematics, which has significantly advanced biophysics, among other fields.

Publications

. Identification of pollutant source for super-diffusion in aquifers and rivers with bounded domains. Water Resources Research, 2018.

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. A semi-markov algorithm for continuous time random walk limit distributions. Mathematical Modelling of Natural Phenomena, 2017.

Project DOI arXiv

. Fokker–Planck and Kolmogorov backward equations for continuous time random walk scaling limits. Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 2017.

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. Reflected spectrally negative stable processes and their governing equations. Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, 2016.

Project DOI arXiv

. Limit theorems and governing equations for Lévy walks. Stochastic Processes and their Applications, 2015.

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. Generalized Continuous Time Random Walks, Master Equations, and Fractional Fokker--Planck Equations. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, 2015.

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. Semi-Markov approach to continuous time random walk limit processes. Annals of Probability, 2014.

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. Inverse stable subordinators. Mathematical Modelling of Natural Phenomena, 2013.

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. Fractional wave equations with attenuation. Fractional Calculus and Applied Analysis, 2013.

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. Fractional Dynamics at Multiple Times. Journal of Statistical Physics, 2012.

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. Stochastic solution to a time-fractional attenuated wave equation. Nonlinear Dynamics, 2012.

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. Fractional Fokker-Planck Equations for Subdiffusion with Space- and Time-Dependent Forces. Physical Review Letters, 2011.

Project DOI arXiv

. An introduction to fractional diffusion. Complex Physical, Biophysical and Econophysical Systems, 2010.

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